Have COVID symptoms or tested positive? Report it
Remote Work Resources and Policies
Notice to employees: There's more information available on this website for you. It can only be accessed via VPN. Login to see it or contact your supervisor.
The Lab's Telework and Remote Work Policy recognizes three types of work arrangements for employees:
Site-Based Employee: Employees who, due to the essential nature of their positions, are required to perform at the Lab work site, in a facility, laboratory, office, or in the field.
Telework Employee: Employees, who by formal agreement, perform work at an alternate work location. This arrangement requires a balance between on-site and off-site work.
Remote Employee: Employees, who by formal agreement, perform work 100 percent in a different U.S. geographic work location (e.g., a different state) and rarely, if ever, travel to the primary work location.
Tools for Remote Work
One of the first things you'll want to do before working remotely is to enable call forwarding. Here's how to do it.
A note on network capability for remote work: While Brookhaven Lab's networks can handle a large number of remote users, your individual experience may be affected by your home network speed, the capabilities of regional internet service providers, and the type of work you are doing.
Work Schedule and Accountability
When working remotely, please be prepared to come on site, and/or to communicate (phone, e-mail, etc.) to support mission-essential operations and other tasks as deemed necessary by your supervisor or operations staff, control room personnel, watch personnel, or others who need your assistance. You are expected to be available during your scheduled work hours, unless an alternative schedule has been approved by your supervisor.
This requirement, extended to all personnel during normal working hours for those not on shift work, is similar to how the Lab operates on weekends, where experts are called for assistance as needed, and are expected to be reachable by phone and available to come in.
If you'd like to take some time off, you should do this in the usual manner: contact your supervisor to request the use of some time off for vacation and then report these vacation hours on your timecard.
Staff working remotely remain accountable to their supervisors for work performed away from the Lab. Supervisors may have different approaches to the periodicity, content, and communication they expect from staff working at home. Therefore, it is the supervisor's responsibility to clearly communicate to their staff the supervisor's expectations of work effort accountability and reporting. Staff working remotely must accommodate any additional requirements of their supervisors related to how they use and report their time.
Please continue to collaborate with your colleagues during this time. Use the tools described above: Microsoft Teams to connect and coordinate work with coworkers, BlueJeans for videoconferencing, and OneDrive for easy access to your files from anywhere.
If you have any questions, please contact your supervisor.
You Can Do It!
Are you ready to put these tools to use? You can learn the basics—and advanced skills, too—using the QuickHelp learning tool. It will help you get the most out of Microsoft Office 365 applications and enhance your capability to work remotely when you need to. It uses videos showing simple, practical lessons about Office 365 overall, as well as topics including:
- Remote Work
- Office 365 basics
- Using OneDrive
- Using Teams
You'll need DUO installed to access the QuickHelp site. Your login information is the same as what you use for all Lab systems.
Get started with QuickHelpGuide to Home Workstation Ergonomics
Do your best to ensure your working environment is ergonomically correct, particularly if you will be spending long amounts of time working from home. Extensive or incorrect use of laptop computers can result in physical conditions such as carpal tunnel syndrome, neck and shoulder pains, eye strain, blurred vision, and headaches.
